Carolyn's First Day

Carolyn’s first day of school began really, really early. I knew it would because she had warned me that she would wake up really early and then come crashing into my room and tell/yell me that “SURPRISE!!!!!! IT IS MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!! WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!!!!!” By the way, think of the most excited you’ve ever been as a child, maybe on a Christmas morning or your birthday or something. Multiply that by at least 10, and you have some idea of how excited Carolyn was for today. But 4am was just too early, and so I sent them (of course Lilia got up with Carolyn) back to bed and then made my way back to my own bed, and would have happily gone back to sleep had Elijah not woken up just then. So, after feeding Elijah and putting him back to bed, I was snuggling with JT and just drifting off when I heard someone moving about. I told myself that it could be the cat. Or maybe one of the girls needed to use the bathroom. Or maybe someone was getting into mischief. Okay, to be fair, that was actually my first thought, but I was so warm and sleepy that I tried to delude myself that something entirely innocent and mess-free was going on. It was Lilia, innocently but in no way mess-free, making a sandwich for herself. If you would like try Lila’s recipe for “Syrup Sandwiches”—yes that’s what she calls her creation--just take two slices of bread, lightly smash them together and then pour a very liberal amount of a fruit syrup of your choice on the top. You’ll know it’s enough when it starts drizzling off the edges of the bread. We had boysenberry on hand, so that’s what she used. (Quick side note—I have a feeling that I’ll be cleaning up boysenberry syrup smears on random parts of the house for months to come.) When Carolyn did get up, she was a dream to get ready for school. She had picked out her outfit over a month ago and she didn’t fuss at all when I was doing her hair, even though I took longer than usual. She held her hands still while the glitter nail polish dried and she held still while I sprayed glitter in her hair as the finishing touch. (It’s all about the bling, baby.) I asked Carolyn if I could take her picture as she got on the bus, and she replied, not unkindly, “Sorry—but no.” What if I missed her so much while she was at school? “Do something with Lilia,” thoughtful pause, “Or Elijah.” Could I pick her up early from school? “No. Rules are rules. That’s what my teacher says. I think.” I had determined to take a lot of pictures anyway, but the kitten weaseled her way out of the house in a blur of white fur, and we spent the time chasing the cat around the yard and only got a few shots of Carolyn. And in the few pictures I was able to take, Carolyn was doing this freaky, gumby-like back bend, for reasons known only to her. The bus didn’t come to our house as we were explicitly told it would, but instead to a house down the street, so I took Carolyn by the hand and made a mad dash for it . We barely made it in time. They had closed the doors and were ready to drive on when we got there. And I didn’t even get a picture of her getting on the bus. (JT missed this part, which was the whole point of his going to work late, because he was chasing the cat.) But she’s coming home in the next 15 minutes , and I can’t wait to see how her first day went, and maybe I can get a cute picture of her getting off the school bus and maybe even a post school day interview. I hope everything was even better than she thought it would be.